The Lydian Spin

Excepter is an experimental music collective formed in Brooklyn in 2002. John Fell Ryan (sometimes called "Jeff") founded Excepter and has remained a central member, providing vocals, synths, and electronic instrumentation. Lala Harrison Ryan has been involved in the group since at least 2006, contributing vocals, programming, keyboards, and flute. 

Paul Roessler is a musician and record producer based in Los Angeles. Active since 1978, he was part of the early L.A. punk scene and played keyboards with band including The Screamers , Twisted Roots , 45 Grave , Nervous Gender . His work includes solo albums such as Abominable , Curator , and The Drug Years , as well as collaborations with artists including Nina Hagen and Mike Watt. Paul is curr...

Carlo McCormick is a pop culture critic and curator living in New York. He is the author of numerous books on contemporary art and artists and has lectured and taught extensively at universities around the United States. His writing has appeared in Aperture, Art in America, Art News, Artforum , High Times , Spin, Vice , and countless other magazines.

Chris Connelly is a Scottish-born musician and writer whose career spans from the industrial and post-punk scenes of the 1980s to a wide range of solo and collaborative projects. Beginning with Rigor Mortis (later Fini Tribe) and continuing through Revolting Cocks , Ministry , and Pigface , Chris's work is an exercise in constant reinvention and movement between genres. His later solo work, includ...

Gary Lippman is a writer, artist, and attorney. He has worked with New York's Innocence Project and is the author of the acclaimed new book I Wish Therefore I Am . His play Paradox Lust ran off-off-Broadway in 2001, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times , The Paris Review , and VICE . Gary's visual art can be found at apocalippy.com .

🎙️ Support The Lydian Spin 🎙️ Dave Naz played in various LA punk bands including Chemical People , Down by Law , and The Last touring the USA and Europe from 1985 til1997, until an exhibition featuring Larry Clark , Nan Goldin and Diane Arbus , inspired him to pick up a camera. As a photographer his work revolves around the varied identities and personae of our time. His photos have appeared in GQ...

🎙️ Support The Lydian Spin 🎙️ ( https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tsd1975 ) Shane Embury is longtime bassist for the grindcore/death metal band  Napalm Death , which he joined in 1987 and has remained with ever since. In addition to Napalm Death , he has been involved in numerous side projects and bands across the extreme metal spectrum, such as  Blood from the Soul , Lock Up , Brujeria , and Venomo...

🎙️ Support The Lydian Spin 🎙️ ( https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tsd1975 )   Inspired by a lifelong obsession with poetry and prose,  Harlow Crandall channels his obsession with literature and rock music into the release of his new album,  Better a New Demon,  recorded   with the support of Peter Manktelow, Meadow Wyand, and Justin Pallini. As a Ph. D. candidate working in one of America's largest ...

Budgie (born Peter Edward Clarke) is an English drummer recognized for his work with  Siouxsie and the Banshees (1979–1996) and the percussion-driven project The Creatures (1981–2004) . He  lost his mother at age 12, and that early loss becomes a central theme in The Absence: Memoirs of a Banshee Drummer , where he also writes candidly about his marriage with Siouxsie Sioux, struggles with alcohol...

Paul Cantelon grew up with music in his blood—his mother played trumpet in the Philadelphia Symphony, his father was a preacher. A prodigy on violin, he debuted at UCLA's Royce Hall at 13, then studied piano across Geneva, Juilliard, and Paris. At 17, a bike accident left him in a coma and wiped out his memory; he had to relearn music from scratch. He went on to co-found the band  Wild Colonials ,...

Shawn "The Defenestrator" O'Connor is a founding member and drummer of the St. Louis band Yowie . Outside of music, he works as a clinical psychologist. Shawn is also something of a luddite, aiming to be the last adult in America without a cell phone.

Pamela Des Barres , born in California, emerged from the 1960s Los Angeles rock scene as both participant and witness. Introduced to Captain Beefheart in high school, she soon immersed herself in the vast Los Angeles demimonde, befriending and dating musicians from The Byrds to Led Zeppelin . With Frank Zappa's guidance , she co-founded the performance collective the GTOs , documenting her experie...

Comedian  Eddie Pepitone , dubbed "The Bitter Buddha," blends caustic humor with existential musings, delivering performances that ricochet between volcanic rants and self-effacing confessionals. A veteran of New York's improv scene and a familiar face on television—from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to Bob's Burgers —Eddie's work straddles the line between working-class outrage and oddly sere...

Shannon Sky is a poet, author, photographer, publisher, and activist born in Chicago. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University.  Shannon is an off the radar, gender queer, underground poet. She previously worked in electoral politics, successfully advocated for juvenile justice reform laws in Chicago, lobbied Congress to fund...

Tianna Kennedy is co-owner and operator of Star Route Farm . She has lived in Tucson, the Bay Area, Nottingham, and Brooklyn. For over a decade, she has been farming in the Catskills, which now serves as her home base. Tianna is also part of the crew of Apollonia , a 64-foot steel-hulled schooner retrofitted for sail freight on the Hudson River. She contributes to cargo operations and deck work as...

Dougie Bowne is a producer, drummer, guitarist, and composer who entered New York's avant-garde scene in his early twenties after a chance street encounter with a member of John Cale's circle, who invited him to jam simply because he was carrying a bag of drum sticks and "looked cool". Unfamiliar with Cale at the time, Dougie nonetheless accepted—and that serendipitous moment launched him into the...

Dan Peck is a tuba player, improviser, and composer. He performs with ensembles such as  ICE (not that ICE)  Wet Ink , and has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, and NYC Ballet . He has toured internationally with his doom jazz trio  The Gate and collaborated with artists such as Ingrid Laubrock and Anthony Braxton. Dan teaches at New Jersey City University and runs Tubap...

San Francisco-based artist Philip Zimmerman has exhibited in San Francisco, Portland, and New York City over the past thirty years. Known for his sculptural work, Philip's pieces explore themes of death, beauty, and symbolism through intricate assemblage. His craftsmanship has been compared to that of Renaissance painters, noted for its exceptional detail and technical skill. Philip also made a fi...

Lydia and Tim are on tour, which means no intro this week. Here is a message from Lydia on the eve of Independence Day:  "There has never been a better time for a People's Revolution than this July 4th, when the fireworks you'll be watching will mirror the explosion in our heads after Diaper Donnie and his band of criminal Republicunts have severed every safety net that has semi-protected veterans...

David Gordon was born in New York City. He is the author of ten books.  His first novel, The Serialist , won the VCU/Cabell First Novel Award , was a finalist for an Edgar Award, and was made into a feature film - in Japan. He has also written five books in the on-going Joe the Bouncer series. His new novel, forthcoming from Mysterious Press in July 22, is a neo-noir called Behind Sunset , is set...

JT Habersaat was dubbed the "Godfather of Punk Rock Comedy" by Chicago Now and launched The Altercation Punk Comedy Tour in 2007, which he headlined for over a decade. His latest special Swamp Beast hit #1 on the Amazon Comedy Charts and was released by 800 Pound Gorilla / Warner Music Group. He curates the Altercation Comedy Festival in Austin, which Vulture named one of the top comedy festivals...

Lydia and Tim are busy this week, so there's a brief break from guests until next week. With everything happening in the streets, we've put together a quick episode along with a couple of song suggestions to help lift your spirits while you're out protesting. Lydia Songs: Time Has Come Today Chamber Brothers Ohio/Machine Gun - The Isley Brothers Ball of Confusion - The Temptations Fortunate Son -...

Steve Doughton is a Portland-based filmmaker whose works explore themes of alienation, connection, and displacement. After establishing himself in  New York's experimental film scene during the 1980s, Steve returned to his hometown, where his filmmaking evolved into something more sustained and emotionally resonant.   Earthlings , his latest feature adapted from a short story by longtime collabora...

Pianist Matthew Shipp makes music where free jazz and modern classical meet. In the early '90s, he played in the David S. Ware Quartet and soon began leading his own sessions, often with bassist William Parker . He has recorded many duets with musicians such as Roscoe Mitchell and Mat Maneri . He began playing piano at five and focused on jazz by age 12. He studied with Robert "Boisey" Lawrey and...

Grace Bergere is a songwriter and musician from Downtown Manhattan. She will be touring the West Coast with Puzzled Panther in late July, supporting Gogol Bordello for the second time. On June 4th, she'll appear at Scott Lipps' Lipps Service Live at The Bitter End with Eugene Hutz, and on June 7th, she'll perform with Joseph Keckler and Bibbe Hansen at Art Yard in New Jersey. Her debut album A Lit...